Testimonies to the Benifits of PUZZLES IN MY CLASSROOM
After the end of his first retail season, my husband let me take a few of the puzzles to use in my first-grade classroom.The children were so captivated by them that I began to use them as part of a reward/incentive program that I had developed.While they would soon get tired of painting, they never got tired of the puzzles, and worked very hard in order to get time with one! The first day that the puzzles were in the classroom, a child who I’d never seen focus on anything longer than 10 seconds held one in his hands, staring at it as he gently wiggled the pieces back and forth for more than half an hour.I was tempted more than a few times to ask him to put it down and attend to some task, but I just left him alone because it appeared that he was in some sort of therapy. After a few years of letting students borrow them for the summer, the supply dwindled and my husband needed our current supply to use at craft shows, so I went out and bought some cute 24-, 60- and 100-piece children’s puzzles and used them. At first, I assumed that the children knew how to work them, as they were all so excited as I put them out on tables. But it wasn’t long before I realized that although some were able to do quite well, most had no strategy at all. This is when I realized that I needed to give solid instruction to the class, but even after two lessons, many still didn’t really understand well enough to feel the satisfaction derived from full involvement.So I began again by teaching small groups of six.
RETEACHING STILL NECESSARY
I thought that all of the students did very well after our small group lessons, but I didn’t notice until much later that several were still struggling and frustrated. These children also had something else in common: They had poor conc entration skills, and their reading and writing was not making the same progress as the rest of the class.So while the rest of the class worked on an assignment with my assistant and a parent volunteer, I sat for more than an hour with these children and reviewed the procedures, then watched to see if I could determine the area that needed strengthening.Again, I was certain that they were on their way and put that behind me.I didn’t think it was that important to keep overseeing the puzzle making. Then, eight weeks from the end of school, I was walking around observing the class at their activities.As I approached the puzzle table, I watched as one of those same children picked up random pieces, tried to jam them together, then threw them down, picked up two more, and proceeded as before.I could see that he still didn’t have a strategy.The other child who had had extra lessons was doing about the same thing.I didn’t realize this at the time either, but these children were also the only two in the room who were still having difficulty with reading and writing. I called my assistant and parent volunteer to observe with me and then assigned each of them to sit with these students for several hours each day for three or four days, and do nothing else but work puzzles, talking about strategy as needed, and observing as they worked.Both students got really fast and good at it. A few days later, we noticed that one of them was showing great improvement with his independent writing. He even looked different. He was also enjoying reading and had confidence in his ability.We were pleased and amazed at his sudden development.It didn’t occur to me until a few weeks later that this all happened after his intense puzzle therapy. The other child was not showing the same improvement in reading and writing, although her mother told me that she had gained a lot more enthusiasm about school. I attributed that to the fact that she, on her own, started a girls’ singing group.They sparked a lot of other creativity in the room and then, with my encouragement, toured the school giving performances. Then, on the last day of school, in the last hour, while the rest of the class was reading, writing and drawing at their leisure, I sat and worked alone with her.For the first time, on her own, she was able to remember letter sounds, while sounding her words out. She also recalled that there needed to be spaces between the words. I should mention that, besides being retained in her first year of first grade, since the second week of this school year she had had individual tutoring at least one hour per day. She also received small group attention the rest of the morning and time with the resource teacher in the afternoon. All of this, the regular and expected things, did not help her. I am sure that the singing activity had something to do with her improvement but I think that the main thing that helped was whatever she gained from learning and practicing the puzzle strategies. The following year my assistant taught puzzle strategy, in groups of two, the first week of school; and, this was the first time in a career of nearly 20 years that all of my students could read.The whole class read earlier and better than any other year. We used some very cute 40 and 60 piece Arthur Puzzles On Fridays, we had contests. Students chose their partners and competed with one another.I had 10 or more such puzzles in the room, which ensured that there would be one puzzle per table.Sometimes I’d pair students for learning or social reasons. This is a good time to check who’s using their strategy. Part of my coaching technique is to compare the puzzle making to playing kickball or some other thing that the student is good at so that they can see the connection.
* A third-grade teacher was telling me about some sluggish students who needed motivation in their reading group.I loaned him two of my puzzles and suggested that he make room for them on his back tables. He did and reported to me about the big change in that group. As students mastered that morning’s skill, he let them go to the puzzle table. * A special education child was mainstreamed into my class. She barely knew half of the letter sounds when she came, but by the end of the year, and the help of puzzle therapy, she had the best concentration in the room.She could sit alone for up to 30 minutes, working in her reading workbook.Even when there was noise and activity in the room, she will get page after page correct.If she did make a mistake, I could tell her to go back and reread two pages to find it, and she would! * A third-grade boy, sluggish and wise cracking, was also invited into my class to practice reading with my children.He continued to slug along, and even I began to feel discouraged until I realized that he never got to work puzzles. He really came to life when he was assured that after he turned in a neat paper, he’d get to work one.He did require some intense handwriting lessons; but he paid attention and practiced everything he was taught. Now, he’s a different fellow.